Visitor center target of stimulus funds
Jim Geraghty ages a spruce growing as thick as a man along the Trail of Time - not by counting its rings, but by reading the etching on a flat, round rock that sits beneath it.

Eaglecrest Ski Area opens early
A solid snowpack generated by November storms allowed Eaglecrest Ski Area to open a week early, despite warmer temperatures and rain throughout most of the city over the weekend.

Photo: Braving the whiteout
Trever Held snowboards Sunday at Eaglecrest Ski Area. The heavy, wet snow and windy conditions did not keep away a few hundred snowboarders and skiers from the mountain. The ski area opened on a limited basis over the weekend.

Photo: Successful hunt
Mike Heard, left, helps Nick Mow off-load a deer Monday at the Don Statter Boat Harbor after returning from a hunting trip in Barlow Cove over the weekend. Mow, one of five local hunters, got a buck and a doe.

Photo: Fresh-caught
Chuck Drummond, a crew member aboard the Avery-Bay, shows off the large shrimp they were selling Monday at the Don Statter Boat Harbor. A frozen two-pound box costs $25. Drummond says they will sell out in the next week.

Marc Livingston
Former Port Alexander and Juneau resident Marc Livingston, of Bellingham, Wash., died Nov. 28, 2009, after a brief illness. He was 63.

The Afghan decision
President Obama is expected to announce on Tuesday a substantial escalation of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan: more training for the Afghan army, more support for Afghan governance and tens of thousands more American troops.

AIDS still among us
As we reflect on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, we will come to reaffirm that we have work yet to be done, whether we are people living with AIDS, clinicians, seniors, young people, politicians or anybody else. We are not through with this yet.

Biomass plan a step backwards
Recent articles and opinions in the Juneau Empire have alternately praised the promises and exposed the flawed logic of establishing a biomass industry on the Tongass National Forest. My perspective has been gained as a rural resident of the Tongass, a commercial fisherman, and subsistence deer hunter. There is a whole realm of this biomass discussion that deserves further scrutiny.

Obama's uninvited guests
I can recall a Thanksgiving when this country was mourning the loss of its youthful, handsome president. And because of the memory of those horrible days following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I am having a hard time being either amused or nonchalant - as some seemingly are - about the Virginia couple who crashed Tuesday's state dinner at the White House.

Palin's mass appeal feeds off contempt
It's week three of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" book tour, and although she has been met with rapture from her fans, she has received a wave of hostility from the mainstream media. David Letterman devoted four minutes of his monologue on publication day to mocking her. New York Times columnist David Brooks called her a joke, and Newsweek referenced "The Sound of Music," asking on its cover "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?" Even domestic diva Martha Stewart weighed in, calling her "boring" and "dangerous." Palin is a media punching bag.

The right reform for the Federal Reserve
For many Americans, the financial crisis, and the recession it spawned, have been devastating - jobs, homes, savings lost. Understandably, many people are calling for change. Yet change needs to be about creating a system that works better, not just differently. As a nation, our challenge is to design a system of financial oversight that will embody the lessons of the past two years and provide a robust framework for preventing future crises and the economic damage they cause.

Two teens arrested on assault charges
JUNEAU - Two teenage boys were arrested Friday morning and charged with assault after a witness reported them shooting a BB gun from a car in the Lemon Creek area.

Anchorage hotel tax receipts way down
ANCHORAGE - The recession is being blamed for a big drop in hotel-room tax receipts in Anchorage. The city says hotel-room tax receipts in the first nine months of the year are down 20 percent from last year.

Burglar strikes as victims enjoy holiday
FAIRBANKS - Alaska State Troopers are investigating a rash of burglaries in Delta Junction that occurred while residents were enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Blasco back in Falcon blue
With the high school basketball season approaching, Thunder Mountain boys' basketball head coach John Blasco will be donning some unfamiliar colors.

Touching the game Alaska style
Today marks the online release of a new documentary chronicling the storied history of the Alaska Baseball League from the first Midnight Sun Game in 1906, to the formation of the Fairbanks Goldpanners in 1960 up to the present.

Chapman seeks fun on the ice and the slopes
Juneau-Douglas hockey player Zane Chapman is making the most out of his final season in a Crimson Bears' uniform as the team prepares to host North Pole this Friday and Saturday at Treadwell Arena.

Crews prepare to clean pipeline oil spill
ANCHORAGE - Crews and equipment were being positioned Monday to begin cleaning up a spill on Alaska's North Slope that fouled an area of snow-covered tundra estimated to be about a quarter-acre in size.

Seafood group pushes sustainable labeling
To boost Alaska seafood market prices and expand the Alaska brand in Europe, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is in discussions with a trade group that certifies and labels sustainable seafood.

Former stripper appeals Alaska killing conviction
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Court of Appeals will hear arguments Thursday that Mechele Linehan was wrongly convicted of a murder conspiracy because the judge allowed evidence about her career as a stripper.